


Ms. Fraser

by julien (julie)



Category: due South
Genre: Crossdressing, Episode: s02e12 Some Like it Red, First Kiss, M/M, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1997-10-10
Updated: 1997-10-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22826992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julie/pseuds/julien
Summary: Ms. Fraser helps Ray see some things more clearly…
Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Vecchio
Kudos: 2





	Ms. Fraser

**Author's Note:**

> **Notes:** This is loosely based in episode 212 _Some Like It Red_. 
> 
> **First published:** in my zine Pure Maple Syrup 6 on 10 October 1997.

# Ms. Fraser 

♦

Benton Fraser was wearing drag, but some things never changed: the Riviera was still at his disposal, and Ray Vecchio was still driving him here, there and everywhere. Instead of picking Constable Fraser up from the Consulate, though, he was collecting Ms. Fraser from St Fortunata’s after a day spent working as a teacher. 

Punctual as ever, Ms. Fraser was waiting for Ray; standing there by the side of the road, apparently deep in thought. Heedless of the stares from the loitering schoolgirls, Ms. Fraser slid into the passenger seat of the Riv as if she belonged there. 

Ray flung a careless hand at the teenagers, who seemed both horribly impressionable and old-before-their-time. ‘People will talk.’ 

A moment before Ms. Fraser asked, ‘I beg your pardon, Ray?’ 

Meeting the distracted gaze, Ray decided not to mention the notion that he and his Armani and his classic muscle car might well ruin Ms. Fraser’s reputation. Instead he pulled away from the curb, and left the girls’ curiosity to run riot. 

Five minutes of pensive silence passed. Finally, for the sake of making conversation, Ray asked, ‘How was your day?’ 

‘My day was fine, Ray, thank you. And yours?’ 

‘Yeah, it was fine.’ 

More silence. This was so unlike Fraser. Normally they’d be going over progress on the current case, or providing updates on other cases, or making plans for the evening, or amiably arguing about whatever it was friends argued about. Not tonight. 

Well, it wasn’t as if Ray didn’t appreciate a few moments to take stock of the situation. 

When they reached the relevant intersection, he turned left, heading towards Fraser’s apartment or the Consulate, rather than turning right for the station house. There was no murmur of protest from the passenger seat. 

Ms. Fraser sat there with her upright bearing; gazing contemplatively, though Ray would guess sightlessly, through the windshield; apparently unaware of Ray’s furtive darting glances. 

If possible, she was even more prim and proper than Fraser himself. She’d been a lady too large and sensual for her time, Ray speculated; a grown woman while her peers were still gawky and coltish and undeveloped. Then her best chance at love had gone awry, and while she’d loved her teaching career she’d had to make a vocation of it, pouring her passion into her students. 

Ray knew the type. In fact, he’d once had a teacher just like her: Miss Bryce, his science teacher. She’d been a large woman, too, always wearing the high heels that showed off her shapely legs, even though they made her tower over the headmaster and the few male teachers. A thirteen-year-old Ray had even flirted with her a little, back when he and Annie were making plans for Nicky’s basement – and Miss Bryce had been the only person he could really talk to when Annie’s father caught them and it all began to go horribly wrong. Once, with his and Miss Bryce’s heads bowed close together over his astronomy assignment, she had even dared whisper the shocking idea to him that Ray wasn’t really the awful ogre everyone else was painting him, or at least not just because he dared want to do lewd things with the innocent Annie… 

The Riviera passed the turn for the Consulate, and continued on towards Fraser’s apartment. 

Miss Bryce had understood the almost undeniable urge, had remembered what it felt like, apparently even considered it to be natural. Ray suspected that Ms. Fraser would understand, too, despite her forbiddingly prudish reaction when Ray had fearfully confessed the tale of him and Annie and the basement. Yeah, Ms. Fraser’s passion might be banked down now, slumbering, but it was still there. 

_Wait a minute,_ thought Ray, casting a quizzical stare at his companion. Wait just one damned minute. He was thinking of Ms. Fraser as a whole other person, entirely separate from Fraser… It was a cop thing, he supposed; forever trying to figure out who people were and why they did what they did. 

And, hell, it was a drag thing, too. If Fraser had told Ray of his plans, before he’d actually turned up at the station all dolled up, Ray would have dismissed the idea as ludicrous. But the odd thing was, it actually worked. Ms. Fraser was actually convincing. And maybe that was because she was a persona whom Fraser had adopted – this was nothing quite as simple as Fraser-in-a-dress. 

A thrill of fear went through Ray. He frantically thought back over the past couple of days. Had he ever said or done anything with Ms. Fraser that might be construed as flirting…? He certainly saw echoes of Miss Bryce in her, and he still thought very fondly of Miss Bryce, but Ray didn’t want to go treating Fraser with the same teasing, forbidden warmth. 

Perhaps Miss Bryce had let both Ray and herself get away with the flirtation because it was always obvious that it would never lead anywhere. Back then, Annie was the one who’d really captured Ray’s heart. And, well, the same went for Ms. Fraser: Ray could, with a certain amount of horror, imagine himself coaxing a fond smile from Ms. Fraser, but he could never fall in love with her. He could empathize with the tragedy of her thwarted love, but he couldn’t make up for it. If Ray’s heart was to be captured right now, even Fraser himself would be a more likely candidate… 

Oh yeah, Benton Fraser was something else again. 

Dear God, what was he thinking? 

Not that he’d _thought_ anything at all yet. Ray certainly hadn’t thought about falling in love with Fraser. He hadn’t even thought about finding Fraser attractive. He wondered vaguely if these were things he’d like to think about. 

The Riv was parked outside of Fraser’s apartment building, idling trustily and throatily, before Ray was barely conscious of it. ‘Uh,’ he said, not wanting to let Ms. Fraser go just yet, and definitely not wanting to deal with Fraser, ‘can I buy you a coffee?’ 

_‘May_ I buy you a coffee,’ the teacher absently corrected. And then she seemed to emerge from her own distraction for a moment, and offered Ray a smile. ‘Yes, thank you, that would be lovely.’ 

Ray pulled away from the curb again, and drove the two blocks to Joan’s coffee shop. Once parked, he climbed out and strode around the car to open the passenger door. _‘Ms._ Fraser,’ he said, the emphasis slightly mocking, and Ray swept a hand wide to invite her out onto the sidewalk. 

_‘Detective_ Vecchio,’ she responded in exactly the same tones. From anyone else that would have been flirting. 

The two of them sat in silence over their coffees. Ms. Fraser drank cappuccino rather than espresso, Ray noted. He couldn’t tell how many of the people here knew who Ms. Fraser really was. They seemed willing to deal with her on face value alone, even though they all knew Fraser well enough to have a good chance of seeing through the disguise. Perhaps they were treating Fraser with the same dignity he bestowed on them…? 

Whatever. The cop figured he should be thinking right now, and thinking very hard indeed, but when he tried to force himself away from externals, his mind became inconveniently blank. _Here, Benny,_ he might say, _you’ve had my life and my soul in your keeping all this time; take my heart as well. Take my sex, too, if you want it._ How much more serious could a relationship get…? 

There wasn’t some universal law that required Ray to broach the subject. He could just allow the notion to drift away into forgetfulness, and he and Fraser would continue along together happily enough. There were so many blessings already in this unlikely friendship. But Ray had the sneaking suspicion that this was too important to let go. 

‘You seem preoccupied,’ Ms. Fraser eventually observed. 

‘And you’re not?’ 

‘Ah, yes, I suppose that I am.’ A moment passed them by. And then Ms. Fraser invited, ‘A penny for your thoughts, Detective.’ 

Ray winced, and then prevaricated. ‘Well, they’re inappropriate thoughts. Thoughts I couldn’t tell a lady.’ 

Ms. Fraser’s eyes slid away, more polite and modest than prudish. 

‘Thoughts,’ Ray ventured, ‘about my best friend.’ 

That gaze lifted, regarded him. Considered him at length, as if there were nothing untoward about staring at someone in public like this. The odd thing was, if there was a moment in which Ms. Fraser realized the implications of this, it wasn’t evident; she seemed to take it all in her stride. 

And Ray let his statements stand, not adding to them, not defusing or confusing them. Let Ms. Fraser – and Fraser – make of them what she (and he) would. Finally, though, Ray asked, ‘What were you thinking about?’ 

‘Oh.’ A small but genuinely amused smile curled those painted lips. A different smile to Fraser’s: more demure but somehow less shy. ‘I was mentally preparing my lesson plan for a physics class tomorrow morning. I will be teaching the theory of relativity to fifteen-year-olds…’ 

And though her tone was utterly innocent, without a trace of irony, Ray narrowed his eyes. ‘Sure. You were thinking about E=mc2 and all that.’ 

‘Yes, Ray.’ 

Another silence stretched. Maybe Ray should have said something more, but he found he couldn’t. Well, so, how could he say anything about something he barely even knew he wanted? 

Ms. Fraser came to the rescue. 

She slid gracefully out of the booth, and stood beside the table; all six-foot-one of her in heels towering there over him. ‘Detective,’ she tentatively began. ‘Would you care to visit? Not right away – come in fifteen minutes. I’ll make coffee.’ 

Dumbfounded, Ray nodded. And then he watched Ms. Fraser leave the coffee shop and walk steadily up the street. The bill, of course, had been left for the gentleman to settle. 

♦

The door of Apartment 3J waited at the end of the hall, just like it always did. Ray viewed it with some trepidation. But eventually he walked along the hallway, and knocked, and waited through an anxious moment or two. 

Fraser opened the door, and Ray’s first feeling was one of profound relief: it was Benton Fraser standing there in his blue flannel shirt and jeans; freshly scrubbed clean, so that his face glowed the faintest shade of pink. 

And then Ray’s fear returned in full measure, for it seemed he’d been understood. In fact, Fraser might well understand all this better than Ray himself did. 

Minutes had fled by, maybe hours, and Ray was still waiting there in the hallway. Finally Fraser smiled, that shy little fond smile of his, and reached to take Ray’s hand in his, to lead Ray inside. 

Words, Ray grasped for words to help him pave a way; but, still smiling exquisitely, Fraser shook his head. And Ray was drawn closer, closer to Fraser, deeper into the dim reaches of the apartment. The door was swung shut behind him, and Ray was caught. Slowly, slowly, giving him a chance to escape though they both knew he wouldn’t, Fraser was backing away taking Ray with him and also approaching Ray, easing them towards each other, until at last their mouths met in a gentle tentative kiss… 

Time passed in its allotted course, while space curved slightly to accommodate the birth of something somewhat unexpected. And these two men kissed each other. 

When he finally brought his attention back to Earth again, and gave himself to the moment, Ray found this to be the most involving thing he’d done in a long while. They kissed, and kissed some more, and that was all; but it was enough, it was satisfying in ways Ray would hardly have dared guess at. Inch by slow inch their arms encompassed each other, wrapping them up, binding them together. And just when Ray figured he couldn’t stand upright any longer because his mind was swimming with the diffuse pleasure of it all, Fraser leaned back against the nearest wall and brought Ray along to rest against him. 

Lips feeling delightfully used and abused, Ray finally broke away, and looked at his friend, really looked hard at the familiarity and the mystery of his friend. Fraser was a beautiful man. Yeah, Ms. Fraser, though a good-looking woman, was nothing compared to this guy… Ray was a goner already. Which must be partly why this was all a bit too much to deal with right now. 

‘Benny…?’ he whispered. 

Fraser had to clear his throat before he murmured in reply. ‘Yes, Ray?’ 

‘I should get going. Ma will be keeping my dinner warm, and you have your lesson to plan, and I really gotta…’ _I’ve really got to get used to this._

‘I understand, Ray.’ With that lovely smile. Bashful, but very very certain. 

_Did_ he understand, though? Ray felt the need for _something_ to be said. ‘And when you’re thinking physics tonight,’ he tried, ‘don’t forget about the mutual attraction of objects, OK?’ 

The smile grew amused. ‘It’s called gravity.’ 

‘No…’ Ray closed his eyes for a moment. ‘No, I think it’s called love, Benny.’ 

Before he was game enough to look again, his lips were crushed in a fierce kiss. And then Ray was released, and was being accompanied to the door. ‘Goodnight, Ray,’ Fraser said, sounding pleased and supremely confident. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow morning.’ 

‘Sure.’ Ray was outside in the hall again, and the door to 3J was closed quietly but firmly behind him. It seemed he was about to begin an affair with Benton Fraser, but some things never changed: Ray and the Riviera were still at Fraser’s disposal. And, well, Ray figured he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

♦


End file.
